A report on the labour market in Saugeen Shores says people feel there aren’t enough amenities to attract new people and housing is not affordable. It recommends diversifying the economy and investing in social infrastructure among other measures.
Findings from a project that aimed to identify challenges in the labour market have been put into a report, which was presented to council this week.
University of Guelph PhD candidate Ashleigh Weeden conducted a six month study of local labour market dynamics, through interviews with local employers, employees, and people looking for work in Saugeen Shores from July to December 2020.
The report to council says in 2018 and 2019, employers were reporting challenges recruiting and retaining employees. The report says it was even forcing businesses to close their doors or limit operations. It adds, “It is thought that housing and transit challenges play a role in the workforce shortage.”
A report by staff on the study say the findings, “Backed up some initial assumptions around challenges such as; the rapid growth of the nuclear industry creating uneven economic growth which produces challenges in the affordability of living in the community and a perceived single focus economy.”
The report also says this growth can be leveraged to invest in physical and social infrastructure and attract residents and investors.
The study says the top challenges for employers include, recruiting and retaining staff in a competitive market; a lack of soft skills, not enough social and community amenities to attract employees; recruiting youth into in-demand career paths, as well as identifying a need for collaboration among stakeholders to support businesses that are looking for employees.
It says the top concerns of employees include, difficulty affording housing, a lack of transparency about employment opportunities, connecting people to opportunities, a need for more collaboration among stakeholders to support employees who are looking for opportunities.
The study recommends promoting economic diversification, a continued commitment to attainable housing stock, affordable childcare, and investment in physical and social infrastructure, and a ‘one window’ model where people can find out about opportunities all in one place.
Town staff say they’ll take the findings of the report into consideration when coming up with economic development plans and work on a collaborative approach to addressing the labour market challenges.
The project is fully funded by Bruce Power, the University of Guelph and Mitacs. Mitacs is a nonprofit national research organization that, in partnerships with Canadian academia, private industry and government, operates research and training programs in fields related to industrial and social innovation.